Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/98

 stone was a form of memorial familiar both to Celt and to Norseman, and “The Guest's Wisdom,” perhaps the earliest of the Eddic poems, contains the lines: “Few roadstones stand by the wayside that were not raised by son to father.” In the popular mind they are usually attributed to the giant race, of whom a faint tradition lingers. It was the giant of Roenis Hill who, in his combat with the giant of Papa Stour, threw a stone at his opponent in the distant island, which fell short and is now known as the Standing Stone of Busta. Similar tales are told of other standing stones.

There are no great circles of standing stones in Shetland, such as is found at Brogar, in Orkney. There are, however, circles composed of comparatively small stones. One of the most complete is found in one of the Whalsay Skerries, and is called the “Battle Pund.” Doubtless only a modern tradition associates it with the scene of a conflict which Hibbert